Scales of War

49. Covet House

21

SEP/09

9/21/09: We were maxed out at seven players tonight. Next week is Session #50, marking one year of Scales of War at the den. Maybe I’ll bring some kind of delicious treat! We also discussed getting Falling ForceTour shirts made, which would include on the back locations such as: Overlook, Akma’ad and Sayre. I suppose you could add Talar and The Elemental Chaos to the list as well, and Falling Force’s Flying Fortress.

Falling Force Seven was in the city of Sayre trying to aid the githzerai there. They had also been invited to tea at the mansion of a popular githyanki noble, and were scheduled to attend a meeting of city leaders to help Amyria try to convince them to form a Coalition to fight the githyanki, who had been attacking conclaves and cities throughout the continent of Gulvania.

The heroes had left the Githzerai’s shabby home in a run-down section of Sayre and were immediately attacked by well-armed beggars. The heroes killed them and looked them over. They reeked of spice. Devilock suspected that the would-be assassins were apparently from a Spice House of some sort.

Reshkar picked up the magical gem that one of the beggars had used. He had sensed a sinister draconic presence coming from the gem, but wanted to try to harness its’ power (it dragged the heroes one square closer at the start of their turns). Galasis looked it over with Devilock, and they determined that its’ power had been drained, but could be re-fueled by evil draconic energy. They also felt that it was either created or powered by Chillreaver, a legendary two-headed white dragon.

ChillReaver was one of the rulers of Wyrmsmere, the other continent on the world of Dracos. Wyrmsmere was a realm ruled by evil dragons. Overlook and Sayre are located on the continent of Gulvania, whose ruler had made some kind of deal with the evil dragons to keep them from invading. The heroes began to wonder if ChillReaver had come to Gulvania…. Reshkar put the gem in his pack.

Mari wanted to do some shopping following the attack. She wanted to purchase a dress and glasses for the upcoming tea party.

The heroes then stopped by the River Jewel and checked out their rooms that Lord Telicanthus had reserved for them. They had a whole floor to themselves, and the amenities were impressive. Devilock asked a matron about local spice houses. The matron recalled a place and gave directions. The heroes rested until 10 PM, and then headed out to the spice house.

Upon arriving, they found it to be a run-down, boarded up building. A beggar girl sat on the steps. She looked up at Devilock and put out her hand, sadly. He gave her a high five. She frowned and groaned about how hungry she was. Devilock noticed that she was well-fed and had a crumb on her lip. The bard refused to give her anything. She called him an “idiot” and ran around the building.

Storm looked over the boarded-up entrance door. He saw that there were nails and knotholes near where a handle or lock would be, and that they formed a kind of intricate lock. He attempted to pick it, but set off a magical spark – the heroes surmised that an alarm had been set off inside.

Anjou kicked the door in, and the heroes found the inside of the place to be full of rubble and broken spice jars. Anjou searched through the rubble and found a trap door in the floor. Storm knelt down by it, and saw that it was trapped. He carefully dismantled it, and opened the lid. Down below was an alcove that led to a small tunnel heading east.

Mari summoned Josh, her snake familiar. Josh bravely slithered down the tunneland informedMari that the tunnel ended in another trap door. It had writing on it and a little slot.

The heroes squeezed into the tiny carved-out tunnel single-file, and crawled up to the trapdoor. On the trap door was scrawled: “Give, and you will be given to”. Storm was leading. He placed a gold coin into the slot and heard a click. He was able to pull open the trap door. Beyond it, a rope ladder extended down into a room with a partially-collapsed wooden floor. Sections of the floor remained attached to the walls ten feet above the rough stone bottom of the room.

Devilock sensed danger, and cast mantle of unity, surrounding all of his allies in a protective glow.

Storm scanned the room, and saw piles of filthy rags and a door by one of the intact floor sections. He climbed down.Storm’s Shifter senses had failed him. There was a massive gelatinous cube lurking, perfectly still, in the pit next to his landing! As soon as he dropped down, tendrils lashed out at Storm. They struck the mantle of unity aura and was repelled. The other heroes began dropping down and joining Storm, hacking into the ooze. The ooze lashed out again and again, but could not break their protective aura (aka I couldn’t roll above an 8!).

Galasis stayed up in the crawlspace, wracking his brain, trying to figure out any weaknesses. He realized it was not a gelatinous cube, but a variant breed, and that it was slow and that acid would not affect it. The cube wrapped a tendril around Corth and dragged him inside of it.

Anjou dropped down and stood on a floor section covered in rags – only to find that someone was under them! A beggar/rogue sprung up and tossed Anjou into the pit with the cube!The rogue then turned and cut into Reshkar. Devilock used a blunder song to send the rogue stumbling off the side and into the cube! As she plunged in, Storm plunged his blade deep into her abdomen, delivering a mortal wound (a critical on an opportunity attack – critical hit deck gave her ongoing 19 damage!).As the battle continued, the heroes watched as the rogue’s red blood slowly filled the cube and her body was quickly reduced to a bare skeleton.

Suddenly, other rag piles were thrown aside on other floor sections. Beggar rogues buried beneath sprang to action, tossing shurikens at the heroes who were engaging the cube. Storm rolled and flipped down into the pit, and maneuvered to the opposite side of the ooze for a flank. He let out a shout, bathing the rogues in psychic energy and killing three.

Galasis teleported down into the room, and used a thunderwave to send a rogue hurtling off the ledge and into the pit. Devilock used a song of spiral paths to teleport Corth out of the cube and to safety in the pit.

The rogues dropped into the pit, engaging Storm, Corth and Anjou. As a rogue dropped down, Corth spun and hit him in the face with a massive strike from his hammer. The rogue’s head crashed into the wall so hard, the rogue had lost a portion of his memory (a critical hit deck effect!). The rogue looked in shock at the cube and lowered his weapon, mumbling “where am I?”.

Corth quickly explained that they were friends and they were in trouble. The rogue nodded and stumbled back, clutching is badly-concussed skull. (Connor, Corth’s player, immediately wanted to keep the guy as a sidekick. Seeing as the fellow reeked of spice, Corth gained a new title: “Ally of Spicy Hobos”. Corth has told the man his name is “Cajun Meatshield”).

The last two beggars hacked at Anjou as one shouted to the other “The Filth King has locked the door! We’re trapped in here!”. The ooze was quivering and not long for this world. Anjou told the two remaining beggars to give up – their ‘Filth King’ had left them to die. She even offered them her room at The River Jewel.This offer gave them pause.

Falling Force destroyed the cube. The rogues decided to accept the offer. They explained that they were members of an organization called the Laughing Shadows, which was run by a man called the Filth King, who ran a temple of Tiamat. The Filth King had been hired to send agents to kill the heroes. They described the layout of what was beyond the room – Sayre was a city built on top of an older city that had been buried due to floods. Beyond this room was an ancient city street and a partially-excavated temple.

Devilock informed the Laughing Shadow rogues that he was a “Filth Prince” and that he would be taking over the Laughing Shadow. At first they were skeptical, until Devilock explained that as worshipers of Tiamat, a Goddess of Greed and Envy, that they should want to overthrow their leader, out of greed and envy. He made a good point, they thought. The heroes let the two beggars go, while Corth began arming his new friend, Cajun.

The heroes picked the lock and ventured into the underground city section. They came upon an ancient street littered with sleeping bags. Clearly, the Laughing Shadow members slept here. Beyond, Galasis was horrified to see that the temple was one devoted to his god, Radu the God of Magic. He told the heroes to kill all inside for desecrating his deity’s work.

The heroes crept into the vestibule that lead to the temple’s main doors. Mari again summoned Josh, and had him slither through a crack at the base of the door. Josh informed Mari that a filthy man was preaching to his beggars of Tiamat’s ways. Inside were pews, a long pit, and a huge treasure hoard “over a hundred snakes long”. He also described a statue of a “winged snake with five heads”.

Anjou kicked int he door and the heroes rushed the temple of Tiamat. Mari fired off a spell that triggered a wild surge that bathed the Filth King in poison. He was radiating poison, sickening allhis allies around him.

The Filth King, a dirt-encrusted priest, responded by holding up his symbol of Tiamat and firing a beam at Storm, that sent the avenger o the edge of the pit. He shoutd at his Chief Groveller to do his job.

The Groveller immediately began barking orders (enacting a very confusing marking power). The Groveller dirctedthe Laughing Shadow members in a coordinated counter-attack.Falling Force focused on getting past them and to the Filth King.

Storm was at the edge of the pit. Two members of the Laughing shadow sung at him and repeatedly tried to send him hurtling into the pit, but he fended them off.

The battle tide was quickly turning sour for the Filth King. He shouted at one Laughing Shadow to “do what must be done”. the rogue gulped and jumped over the pit into the treasure pile. He ran off of it and pulled out a shuriken, facing the heroes.

Anjou used her spear to trip up the Filth King, and sent vines foth from it to pin him to the ground. the filth king looked at his minion expectantly. Anjou knew something was about to happen, but she was not sure what…